Trick and Capture Redone
by amyfan4ever
Summary: Trick and Capture again, only re-done. Hightly suggested that you read the original version first. Please R
1. To start it off

Trick and Capture, Chapter 1

(Hey peeps, so, if you have been watching you would know I kinda havn't written in a while. A LONG while. 8-9 months...

This has been for a few reasons, 1) I feel like Sega is killing Sonic... Really do... Losing intersting in writing about him. 2) I've been writing my own characters and after doing some of my own stuff and I like that more then this.. Sorry, but its true. 3) Then also..I just havn't wanted to write for this..

Buuuut, because someone (Epic-friend-of-mine XP) linked to this story to show it off.. and I didn't want everyone to think this is my writing leval.. and that I havn't done stuff.. I'm gonna re-do this story.

I PROMISE this will come faster then fist time I wrote it, mostly cuz I don't have to re-write everything.

Anyway, if you want me to keep writing after I do this, drop me a PM.. I don't know if I'm just feeling like a jerk or what, but I need a push. Please? If not.. Fox and Rabbit is gonna die.. and you're not gonna see much more writing from me..

Anyway, thanks for reading, review like always :P)

Darkness, pain, that kind that made you want to curl into a ball and desperately hope it would go away soon.

This is what greeted Sonic as he slowly opened his eyes. At first, he could see nothing but a think, heavy black. Trying to move, he felt excruciating pain shoot into his legs and arms. He looked down and realized why; he was chained to the wall. "Where am I? What am I doing here?" he mumbled sleepily. Trying to move again, he could feel rough stone and concrete under him. Something was wrong..

"He he he" A chuckling sound came from the shadows around him. The noise seemed to bounce off the walls and come at him from all angles. At first, it was almost impossible to tell where it was coming from. After twisting his tiny blue triangle-like ears, it pin-pointed from the left.

Sonic focused his eyes, trying to see the owner of the sound. "Who are you?" He demanded, his eyes searching the tiny room, sweeping first over to the left and then around in 180 degrees. "You can't hide from me forever!"

When no other sound would reach his ears, he sighed impatiently. Mind games. Only the ones of a sick, twisted person. "Fine! Stay out of sight! See if I care. I happen to like being here, all by my self. What I would really hate is if you were blasting music in my ears!" He snapped, hoping he would at least get a response.

The only response he was silence.

Sonic groaned and tried one more time. "At least you didn't take away my shoe, cuz I have things in there that would help me escape and get AWAY!" Sonic screamed at the wall. Although having his shoes taken away would have been bad because he couldn't run very fast without protection for his feet, there wasn't really anything inside of them.

He waited, and waited.. Nothing. Growled in anger, the hedgehog's mind started planning, how to get out of here, and what he'd do to the person who put him in here in the first place. But Before he could get very in his escape ideas, another low chuckle reached his ears, like the first.

Sonic whipped his head around. "Who are you? Come out here so I can look at you! Why are you hiding?"

The chuckle grew louder, "But I have nothing to hide" Eggman said as he came out from the shadows. He moved so he stood right in front of Sonic, still chuckling.

As soon as Sonic looked at him, he smiled; not an evil smile but a smile two friends would share. Like this was just another day, hanging out with his pal. "You know, you say that block-headed echidna friend of yours is thickheaded and gets tricked easily, but you!" Eggman stopped and doubled over in laughter.

Sonic glared at him, "What are you talking about?"

Eggman stood up; his shoulders still shaking, and a huge smile on his face. "And you just gave me 8 emeralds! The 7 Chaos emeralds and the Master Emerald." He added when he saw the puzzled look on Sonics face.

The blue hedgehog looked at a loss for words, the expression on his face wouldn't of been more shocked if Eggman had said they were long lost brothers. After almost 8 seconds, words finally spilled from his mouth. "But You said y-you changed!"

Eggman looked fiendishly pleased. "I lied." As soon as these words left his mouth, he leened against the wall, waiting for the expected response.

The surprise on Sonic's face turned to anger and fast. "You little lying—when I get my hands on you!" He growled.

Eggman laughed, a loud booming sound that bounced off the walls, "What are you going to do? If I remember correctly, your'e chained to a wall, and I have the emeralds! But if you behave, I MIGHT let you live, but you must be good."

"You sick, sadistic, psycho, loser of a—" Sonic snarled.

A sweet smile flirted across Eggman's face as Sonic had just called him his best friend, "Didn't anyone ever teach you any manners? Oh wait, I forgot, even your parents didn't want you! Silly me! And always remember you idiot, I could have killed you at any time, but I haven't, yet"

Sonic growled, showing off his sharp yellow-white teeth. The look on his face just daring Eggman to keep going.

Eggman quickly moved his right hand out of biting range. By all means, he was NOT afraid of Sonic, but he had learned the hard and painful way Sonic was a deadly fighter when provoked.

"Oh well", Turned away, the mad scientist casually pressed a button on the wall. "I guess I will just have to teach you a few manners. After all, you've been in my house for quite a while and I haven't been able to show you my hospitality."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Over my dead body!" He coated his words in poison and spat them into the darkness of the tiny cell.

"Funny you should mention that, because that's just what I had in mind."

Sonic's eye ridges raised in confusion. "I beg your pardon?" He said slowly, as if speaking to a moron.

"Yes. You see, your friends aren't coming to save you. You are all alone."

Sonic rolled his eyes, the man in front of him could be so dense sometimes. "Don't you know anything, you moron? Tails will come! I know that."

"My dear Sonic! That is where you are wrong. Like always." He added under his breath and then started to leave. "Oh well, you will be finding this out for yourself soon. Maybe in a few months, when you are still here, and no one has come to save you—not even start to wonder where you are—you'll find everything I said was right."

Green eyes narrowed in suspicion, Eggman might be a mad scientist, but his words had gained the blue hedgehog's attention. "And you know this how? How do you know that they arn't going to wonder where I am? That they won't wonder where I went and they won't trace it to you and go look for me and find me here? Tell me how you know this, you dumb, dirty rotten, sick" His fury blinded him and cut off his words. He shook the chains as hard as he could, fire burning in his eyes.

Eggman waited for Sonic to calm down before he reached out and took Sonic's chin in his hands (while keeping them out of biting range). When they were eye to eye, he spoke softly," I know, because they think you're dead."


	2. Disease

**(two weeks earlier)**

Tails stared out the window of his workshop. A brillant view of Mystic ruins greeted him, from the train station to the jungle to the rocky cliffs behind the house. This was a beautiful place to live and the warm sun was shining brightly today.

But none of this was noticed.

Sonic had left two days before and had promised to be back at 3:30 PM. Sharp. It was now 4:37 and Sonic WAS still not back.

Where was he?

Tails left the window and stared off in to the distance, heaving a sigh. Why did Sonic always have to leave? He knew he liked to run off and needed to move, but why couldn't he stay here at least some of the time?

Then his front door slammed shut.

Tails jumped and trotted to the edge of the staircase. "About time!" He called down.

"About time for what?" He heard Knuckles call back.

Tails paused, sighing again. He had been really hoping it was Sonic. "Nothing, I thought you were Sonic... He said he would be back at 3:30 today, and he's still not here..."

"Well, he's here now." Knuckles called back.

"Huh?" Tails, now curious, ran down the staircase as fast as he could, almost ramming into Knuckles. As soon as he stopped himself, he gasped.

Knuckles was holding Sonic or what was left of him. He looked terrible, and it looked like he was dying.

"Sonic"! Tails all but screamed his best friend's name. He reached out his hand to touch him, in some small way, he had to be sure he was actually seeing him.

Sonic slowly turned toward Tails, gasping. He stared at him like he wasn't even there; like he was looking at the wall. He seemed to be experiencing both heat and chill at the same time; shivering and sweating at the same time.

Tails stared at Sonic for several seconds, almost as if he couldn't believe it was Sonic. He then glared at Knuckles, fire starting to burn within him. "What happened? What did you do to him?"

Knuckles glared back at the fox kit. "Nothing, I found him this way. When I found him, I wasn't sure if he was even alive!"

Tails lowered his gaze back to the shivering blue lump of fur and quills in Knuckles arms, not sure what to say.

"I don't know but I brought him back here because I knew you would be wondering where he was. So here!" Knuckles dumped Sonic on the couch in a hot-tempered manner and left.

Tails watched the echidna depart, then looked down at his older brother. He bit his lip. Sonic had always taken care of him when he needed it. He would now have to do it for him.

XXX

Tails groaned when he heard foot steps upstairs again. Why was, Stay in bed; you're sick. such a hard command to follow?

He shook his head as he climbed up the stairs to force Sonic back into his bed. It was a good thing Sonic was sick, and weak, or he would NEVER be able to live this down. On the other hand, if he werent sick, he wouldnt need to force Sonic to sleep in the first place. He couldn't blame Sonic though. Whatever he was sick with, it seemed to be affecting his memory. The first day he hadn't even recognized where he was, or even who Tails was. The second day he did, but didn't remember coming to Tails home, or getting sick.

Today was the third day he was sick, and it was another day he couldn't recognize anything. What was worse, he kept trying to get out of the house because he didn't remember anything. Tails was glad that the illness affected his strength in addition to his memory. While Sonic was ill, he needed to stay indoors, and if he had still had his full strength, keeping him indoors would have been impossible.

Tails reached the top of the staircase and looked at the sick hedgehog, who was making a very poor attempt at trying to crawl into the closet. "GET BACK IN BED! You're sick! And what are you doing?"

Sonic looked back at him, as if Tails were a stranger that was ordering him around. "You can't tell me what to do..." He mumbled.

Tails rolled his eyes. They had already been through this 3 times today. "Yes, I can!" Taking a deep he shoved Sonic back toward his room. "What... part... of Stay...in...bed...do...you...not...understand?" Panting as he struggled to push the 77 pound hedgehog toward the bed and onto the mattress. "Now stay in bed!"

Sonic mumbled something that Tails couldn't understand, so the fox just left. As he got to the stairs, he sighed and dropped his head into his hands. Neither he nor Knuckles could figure out what was wrong with Sonic. He was throwing up; he had a constant fever, and was very weak. If that wasn't bad enough, there was his memory loss to deal with. If he didn't start getting better soon...

The phone rang. Tails darted in its direction immediately. With Sonic acting like a little kid, he was DYING for someone else to talk to. "Hello?"

"TAILS? Where are you?" Knuckles voice rang through the phones receiver clearly.

Tails, of course, was confused. With Sonic acting like this, he couldn't go anywhere. "Uh, at my workshop, Why?"

"Eggman is attacking Station Square! I need your help. Get over here as fast as you can!"

Tails looked back upstairs, "But I can't leave Sonic here alone...!"

"Call Amy, then! Get someone over there to babysit for 2 seconds! I need you NOW! Be here!" A click and an annoying tone signaled that Knuckles had hung up.

Slightly annoyed, Tails started to dial Knuckles number to call him back, but he was interrupted. An explosion echoed through his ears, and he quickly turned to the window. Far off in the distance, smoke began to rise up toward the sky. The kit sighed in frustration. Why did Eggman pick today—of all days—to do this?

He hung up the phone, then picked it up again, dialing Amy's number with haste.

XXX

Amy was standing before her closet, going through the clothing and trying to figure out what would look best on her. After all, her public deserved to see her at her best. She went over to her sock drawer, going through it, and carefully considering all of the options. Just as she picked out the pair she liked best

*RING!*

Muttering to her self, "Can't they see I'm busy?" She grabbed the phone, "This had better be good!" She snapped.

"Amy! Ineedyoutocomeover! Eggmanattacking,andSonicisreallysick! Icantleavehimherealone! -

"Tails?" Amy asked, cutting the frantic fox off, "What are you talking about?" His babbling had sounded like little more than gibberish to her, and she hadn't been able to understand much.

"Jusrgetoverhere!" Tails hung up without another word.

Amy stared at the phone, puzzled, before putting it back. All she had heard was come over, and something about Sonic.

After a few seconds of thought, her mood brightened. Her Sonic was going to be there! It didn't matter much why Tails needed her to be there. She would be able to figure it out, as well as spend some time with her hero. She quickly picked out the rest of her clothes, put them on along with her boots, and ran out the door.

XXX

Tails, after hanging up the phone, ran upstairs. He peeked into Sonics room, trying to determine if he would be alright for a moment until Amy arrived. The blue hedgehog was fast asleep. Tails smiled, heading quickly down the stairs and out the door. Climbing into the Tornado, he started the engines. The plane launched into the sky, headed for Station Square.

XXX

Eggman watched the golden fox fly off. Perfect. That meant Sonic was alone in the house for now.

He quickly checked his radar. The hologram of himself attacking the city would only last for a few more minutes. Not to mention, Tails probably called someone to watch the hedgehog. He was short on time; it was now or never.

He hovered over to the window and looked inside. There he was; his blue enemy in all his glory. He was trying to sleep, tossing back and forth under the covers. Eggman quickly extended a metal claw, first opening the window, then grabbing the sick hedgehog and pulling him out. The mad doctor left as quickly as he had come, and left no trace of himself. Everything was going perfectly.


	3. Fight!

It was a wonderful day. The grass was green, and everyone was happy to be alive. The flowers were a beautiful pinks, yellows, and reds

A little boy and a little girl came skipping down a path toward a meadow. They were going to pick flowers to bring home to their mother. Everything was just lovely.

The little girl bent down to pick the beautiful flowers. "Aren't these flowers very pretty? Mommy will love them so!" She cried.

The little boy nodded. "They are very nice. Mommy will love them. Oh look, there goes Spot!"

Both of the kids looked up to see their spotted pet dog running after a cat.

"Oh dear!" cried the little girl. "Don't chase that poor little cat, Spot! You might hurt him, and that isn't very nice to hurt someone else!"

The boy nodded, and they both yelled, "STOP! SPOT! STOP!"

(Just kidding! Are all of you bored now? I was in a Evil mood. Here's the real chapter. Promise.)

Tails pulled the tornado into a tight 90 degree turn as he flew into Station square. As the building flew by under him, he spotted what he had came for. There he was: Eggman. Tails growled under his breath. Eggman picked a REALLY bad day to attack, and was now going to pay for it.

With expert piloting skills, he flew around Eggman and then charged him, head on. "Eggman!" He screamed the top of his lungs in rage.

To the fox's surprise, the mad scientist didn't look his way, or even acknowledge him. Then, to the kit's shock, he flew right threw him.

Tails quickly pulled a 180 degree turn and faced him again. He then noticed something he hadn't seen before; Eggman was translucent.

Tails stared for almost a minute before he realized what he was looking at. It was a hologram. The fox noticed the hologram coming from a small box on the side of a nearby building.

He carefully aimed the tornado's laser gun at the box, and released the trigger. The box blew up and the hologram disappeared.

There wasn't even any damage to the city. The explosions must have been fake. Tails couldn't believe it. He had been tricked! But why would Eggman set up such a hologram?

A red figure come charging toward him, trying to get his attention. The fox quickly, carefully, and skillfully landed on the ground. He barely had time to turn the engine off before the echidna was right next to him.

"You stopped Eggman all by yourself?" Knuckles stared at him with new respect. He had always thought the fox was only good for building and repairing mechanics. He had never even thought the fox could even fight without his plane.

Tails shook his head, slipping out of the plane and to the ground. "It wasn't Eggman. It was just a hologram, Knuckles." He ducked his head in shame. He still couldn't believe that he had fallen for it. Sonic wouldn't have. He would of been able to figure out it was a trap before coming.

Suddenly something occurred to him. What if someone had just wanted him out of the house? But was there that was important?

He suddenly felt a wave of guilt; Sonic had been there all alone the whole time...

"KNUCKLES, we have to go! NOW!" Grabbing the side of the plane, Tails quickly startedto swing himself back into the Pilot's seat , but was stopped by Knuckles grabbing his ankle.

"Why? What's wrong?" Frowning, the echidna's violet eyes searched the baby blues orbes of the fox kit.

Tails tried to free his ankle from the echidna's iron grip. Every second he wasted was a second Sonic might be in danger. "I think someone just put up the hologram just to get me out of the house!"

The hot-tempered Echidna looked confused. "Why would they want you out? What is so important about your house that they want you out of it for 15 minutes?"

Tails groaned. He didn't have time for this. "Sonic! Sonic was in the house, defenseless, and all alone! At least until Amy got there, but I had to leave him alone fo—

Knuckles cut him off. "What are you waiting for, then? Lets go!" The echidna barked, quickly letting go of the eight-year-old's ankle. He jumped into the planes backseat. Tails quickly climbed back into the pilot seat.

The engines of the Tornado roared to life. The small airplane soared over Station Square toward Mystic Ruins. "Sonic, please be okay." The golden fox whispered.

XXX

Amy skipped toward Tails house, as determined as a cat going toward a mouse hole. As she got closer to the house, she noticed the front door was wide open. It blew softly back and forth in the wind, as if someone was opening it and then shutting it again.

Amy frowned. Why was it open? She quickly shrugged it off. Tails must have left it open. When he got fixed on one thing, he often to do normal things, like shut the door, or clean his house sometimes.

"Sonic?" She called as she went in. The house seemed really quiet, and had an almost eerie feeling. "Hello? She called again, her voice bouncing off the rafters and coming back to her. "Tails? Sonic? HELLO?"

The pink hedgehog quickly searched the house, but no one was there. "That's strange, where are they?" She wondered out loud. "I guess they're not here... but why would Tails call me and want me to come over if no one else was here? He said something." She muttered, trailing off.

Amy sighed and sat down. "I guess I'll have to wait for him to get back." Looking around the living, she saw the clock said 3:34.

_This better not be a prank. _

XXX

Tails steered the plane so that it would reach the ground as quickly as possible. After flying over the train station, he quickly dropped the Tornado into the field in front of his house. The landing was not what Knuckles had hopped for, and he almost fell out of the plane. However, he didn't have time to make his complaints known, for Tails had instantly jumped out of his seat and run into the workshop as fast as he could. Knuckles held back a sigh, and followed the fox as fast as he could.

"Amy? Where is he? Is he okay?" Tails shrieked as he flew through the front door.

Amy looked up, started, "Hi Tails! Who? Sonic? He didn't show up."

Tails ignored her and barreled up the stairs toward the room where Sonic had been 30 minutes ago. "No!" He started to cry when he saw the empty bed. Amy and Knuckles came up the stairs. Tails stared at the bed for several seconds before turning around to glare at Amy.

"WHY DID YOU LET HIM GET OUT?"

"Get out? What do you mean? He never came!" She said, confused and getting angry.

Tails continued to glare. "HE WAS ALREADY HERE!"

"NO HE WASN'T! I SEARCHED THE WHOLE HOUSE, AND HE WAS NOT HERE!" The pink hedgehog growled, pulling out her hammer and threatening to give the kit a good whack on the head.

WAIT! HOLD IT! Knuckles quickly jumped between them, pulling Amy's hammer from her grasp. He pointed to Tails. "You said he was here when you left, meaning Amy WASN'T here."

He then pointed to Amy, "And you said he wasn't here when you got here. The reasonable answer? He left after Tails left and before you got here, Amy." Releasing both of them, the red echidna stood back and let this sink in.

Both stared at Knuckles, it was seconds before Amy finally spoke. "Why did you want me to come over anyway?"

Tails rolled his eyes. "I told you over the phone! I needed you to watch Sonic because he's sick and I didn't want to leave him alone!" Putting his hands on his hips, he glared at the pink hedgehog like she should know this.

Amy looked stricken. "Oh, then how did he leave?"

For several seconds, there was a heavy silence. Then, as if they rehearsed it, all three of them turned at the same time to look at the window. It was wide open, with a soft breeze blowing in.

The three way groan could of been heard downstairs.

XXX

Throbbing headache. One that seems to squeeze your mind slowly into mush. Painful to say the least.

Sonic groaned and opened his eyes. He was lying on his back, on a stainless steel table in a large, white room he didn't recognize. Glancing around without moving his head, he could see nothing out of the nothing unusual.

He slowly pushed himself into sitting position. "Tails?" He called groggily. He remembered waking up and being really weak Tails said something about him being sick and not able to remember anything. But where was Tails now?

In the next room, he heard someone typing. "Tails?" He called again, as he slowly pushed him self up. Sucking up a deep breath, Sonic shoved himself off the bed. Using the slow and painful process of dragging his feet, he managed to get across the room, and into the next.

Holding up one hand to shield his eyes from the bright light, he could make out a figure in front of him. Waiting a few seconds to adjust to the lights, he carefully lowered his hand to get a good look at it.

But what he saw was like nothing he had ever seen before

(Hey, quick note. Started a collab account with a friend, link on my page. If you want to see some one-shots I wrote with a friend, check it out. And please review :3)


	4. Bit of a problem

Throbbing headache. One that seems to squeeze your mind slowly into mush. Painful to say the least.

Sonic groaned and opened his eyes. He was lying on his back, on a stainless steel table in a large, white room he didn't recognize. Glancing around without moving his head, he could see nothing out of the nothing unusual.

He slowly pushed himself into sitting position. "Tails?" He called groggily. He remembered waking up and being really weak Tails said something about him being sick and not able to remember anything. But where was Tails now?

In the next room, he heard someone typing. "Tails?" He called again, as he slowly pushed him self up, and then almost choked on the heavy smell tomatoes. Odd, why did his fur smell like tomatoes? (BIG CLUE!) Sucking up a deep breath, Sonic shoved himself off the bed. Using the slow and painful process of dragging his feet, he managed to get across the room, and into the next.

Holding up one hand to shield his eyes from the bright light, he could make out a figure in front of him. Waiting a few seconds to adjust to the lights, he carefully lowered his hand to get a good look at it.

But what he saw was like nothing he had ever seen before

Eggman was typing, running on treadmill, and wearing a shirt that read, #1 good guy!

Sonic wasn't sure if he would faint -his legs were voting heavily on it- or puke. Just watching Eggman work-out..or try to.. would make any one throw up.

"What are you doing?" Sonic gasped. He had been trying to sound all macho and tough, but his voice refused to go above a whisper.

Eggman stopped his work-out and turned to the blue hero (in all his glory;barely able to stand, and with the threatening factor of newborn puppies.)Instead of threatening, gloating, or even making some comment on Sonicscondition, he just smiled.

"Oh good, your awake." Eggman said in a soothing voice, as if Sonic was asick toddler." I thought you would never wake up, in your condition! What on earth did you do to get yourself to get like that? Good thing I found you, you might not have survived another night. "

Sonic stared at him like he was speaking Latin. "What are you talking about? Wake up? How long was I out?" Sonic instantly wanted to take the last question back, knowing Eggman would make up some story about him being out for a long time.

"9 days."

The expression on Sonics face couldn't off been more surprised if Eggman had told him they were related.

"Alright, I don't know what going on, but whatever scheme you're cooking up in that messed up mind of your's, you're not getting away with it! I might not be at my top, but I can still take you on; you and your sick creations!" Sonic stated, trying to stay on his feet. His legs, hadn't been used in over a week, and were threatening to give in any second.

Eggman narrowed his eyes and walked over to Sonic. He then knelt down, and took Sonics chin in his hand and tilted it so they were eye to eye. In short, he looked a lot like a person did when they disciplining a 3 year old. "Don't talk to me like that," was all he said.

Sonic opened his mouth, a witty comment on Eggman's behavior coming, but his legs gave out and he fainted; right in front of his worst enemy.

If he had been awake, he would have felt Eggman pick him up very gently, put him back on the stainless steel table, and cover him with a blanket.

***9 days ago, (the day Sonic disappeared), mystic ruins jungle, 11:35 am***

Knuckles was as far from happy as black is from white. Tails was sometimes too loyal, when it came to Sonic. He and Amy had been dragged over every inch of mystic ruins. From the train tracks, to every single cave in mystic ruins, out to Angel island, and now throughout the whole jungle.

This was the 6th time they had gone by Big's hut, and Knuckles was near the breaking point.

Amy, 2 hours ago, had said that her neighbor was a member of her favorite band, (The Jug Heads Wash Board) and she promised she would stop by and listen to them. (Knuckles didnt know what was weirder, that excuse, or the fact that Tails believed her.)

Now it was just the two of them, going over every bit of then jungle just incase Sonic was there "lost and scared and REALLY wanting his little brother to come and rescue him." Knuckles gritted his teeth, deciding to drop the kit a hint that they had already looked for 6 hours and should go home.

"Tails?"

"What?"

"I don't think Sonic is out here, maybe we should-"

Tails cut him off." Go look in the city! Maybe he's there!" The overly eager 8-year-old shot past his older friend in what he thought was toward the ladder out of the jungle.

"NO!" The gruffness of the echidna caught Tails off guard.

"Why not?"

Knuckles fought the urge to bark at him, knowing that wouldn't help anything." Because," he said, trying to keep his temper under control, "We've already looked a lot tonight, and I want to go home. Even if it means I have to carry you screaming back to your house." He cracked his namesake, knowing Tails seemed weight about as much as a feather and could be carried easily.

Tails glared at the echidna, anger rising. "FINE, I KNW YOU DIDN'T CARE ABOUT SONIC ANYWAY!" He screamed. His exhaustion from the long day began to take over as anger.

In the same way, Knuckles hit breaking point, and his temper took over. "DONT YOU EVER SAY THAT! I'VE BEEN OUT HERE WITH YOU FOR SEVERAL HOURS LOOKING FOR THAT STUPID HEDGEHOG! I'M HUNGRY, AND I REALLY WANTED TO GO HOME 4 HOURS AGO, BUT I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING, SEEING I KNOW HOW MUCH YOU CARE HIM! SO YOU CAN JUST SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" At that moment, Knuckles realized that during his rant he had grabbed Tails by the shoulders and was shaking him back and forth, and stopped screaming.

Tails looked away, tears already threatening to spill over and pushed the echidna away." Fine!" The fox ran as fast as he could down a path, looking back as if he expected Knuckles to chase him.

Knuckles glared down the path Tails had taken. "Fine!" He then went down a path leading in the other way.

In two minutes he was standing before the ladder out. Started to climb up, he felt a nagging feeling about leaving Tails alone in jungle at night. He sighed. He was by no means afraid of Sonic. But IF Sonic was o.k., Knuckles didn't want to be the person to tell him he had left his precious little brother out in the jungle at night by himself.

Knuckles growled a few choice words, and went back to find Tails.

He started looking where the kit had run away from him, and found him two trails away. The fox's twin tails dragging on the ground. Not sure what to do, Knuckles cleared his throat to get the fox's attention.

Tails jumped, and quickly turned, when he saw who had cleared their throat he glared. "What do you want?" He growled.

Knuckles took a deep breath and wished for patience he didn't have. "For you to stop acting so petty. Besides, I can't leave you here alone. Do you have any idea what Sonic would do to me if I left you here?"

Tails didn't even look at him," If he's alive, yeah." he mumbled.

Knuckles counted to 10 before he answered, trying to get rid of his anger.

"Kid, were talking about Sonic. I've seen many times where I thought Sonic was dead! He was once declared dead. For 7 minutes! And you know what happened?"

"What?"

"Out of nowhere, he just came back to life. That guy can survive anything. And I mean anything. He's fine. And you sitting out here in the cold by yourself isn't going to bring him back." Knuckles added, knowing Tails, he would want to look for him until he dropped from lack of sleep." So can we go?"

Tails very slowly got to his feet." Fine..."

**(An hour later, Angel Island)**

After taking Tails back to his house, getting out of jungle had been task on its self, since Tails had been very very very sure that going down THIS trail was the way out. Knuckles had argued with him for 25 minutes before he just picked up him, carried him down another trail, and showed him the ladder. Knuckles made the kit promise he wouldn't go back out and keep looking for Sonic. After that didnt work, he just took one of the fox's favorite tools, said stay in the house, and left. He didn't want Sonic to blame him if Tails got himself hurt.

Knuckles was now sitting on edge of the shrine of the Master Emerald, a fire was going, and even though he was tired, he couldn't sleep. Something about this was wrong, but he could put his finger on it..

Knuckles sighed, his body screaming that he get some sleep. If Sonic didn't come back soon...


	5. Say what?

**(Angel Island, 5 days after Sonic disappeared.)**

Knuckles stood by the shrine of the Master Emerald, watching it with the carefull trained eye of a gaurdian. This was the part he liked best about guarding the Master Emerald; you were all alone, and you could think and dream to your heart's content. No one around to bother or stop you.

The day was cool, but dry. The sun had been out earlier, but it was now overcast, and the sun hidden by clouds. This caused the weather to let a eerie feeling softly desend over the land.

Knuckles' thoughts were running wild in his head. They had been on the same subject for the last several days.

Sonic.

On one hand, Sonic hadn't come back. Not a word from him. It was almost like he had turned invisible before their eyes.. Maybe he wouldn't come back.

On the other hand, his mind kept reminding him that it was Sonic he was thinking about—The guy that, when all hope was lost and when it seemed that evil had won and clearly there was no way out, showed up and saved the day. This was the hero he was thinking of! Right?

Even with this thought, Knuckles couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. REALLY wrong. _He was really sick when he disappeared. I can't get rid of this feeling.. that something's—_

Knuckles thoughts were cut off as a rustling in the bushes caught his attention. Easing into a fighting stance, Knuckles stood ready to fight off any intruder that thought they could just waltz onto his Island whenever they wanted to.

Tightening his powerful fists, Knuckles made a mental note to make sure it wasn't Tails or anyone else that might not be an intruder before going on attack. He had learned better than to attack immediately a few nights ago.

Two nights ago, Tails had decided to make a little night house-call to Knuckles (at 3:00 am), and had almost had his right arm taken off by the half-asleep Echidna. The look in the young fox's eyes had been enough to make the hot tempered echidna want to crawl into a hole and—

The bushes rustling got stronger, pulling the echidna's thought's back into the present, and making his fists itch to start the attack.

"Tails?" Knuckles called gruffly, "If I don't get an answer, you might get your tail taken off."

To the echidna's surprise, no one came out. No answer came to his ears. Not even a "Don't hurt me!" The rustling stopped as quickly as it started.

Instead, a small piece of paper wafted out and settled on his left shoe.

Knuckles reached down to pick it up, his guard still up in case this was a trick and some prankster or blue hedgehog thought they could pull some smart trick.

But when he opened it up and looked at it, his eyes widened with shock and disbelief. If he knew one thing, this wasn't a trick. Partly shaking from the image on the piece of paper, Knuckles leaned against the Master Emerald, closing his eyes. One thing he was now sure of; Sonic was dead.

But how could he break it to Tails?

Sighing, he pushed him self upright, and then realization hit him. The rustling. Something had to drop the piece of paper off. Maybe it was still there.

With speed that made a cheetah look slow, Knuckles suddenly, but quietly dove into the bushes where the piece of paper had been dropped. Right there, in plain sight, were the tracks of a robot.

Looking at the tracks, and then back at the piece of paper, Knuckle sighed.

On the note was a picture of Sonic, covered in blood, with a knife near him on the ground, also red with blood.

Along the bottom were the words, written in chicken scratch, "I'm sorry, I found him dead.

Signed- A friend."

**[Later, 11 days after Sonic disappeared.] **

Feeling hunger pains rip through his stomach, a reminder that he needed to eat soon, was what forced Sonic to open his eyes. If it hadn't been for that, he might of slept for the rest of the day.

Sonic groaned, and slowly sat up. Even though he had a pounding headache, he felt better then he had the last time—

The last time! Thoughts of what happened flooded his head, Eggman's behavior pulled at him. A small voice screamed at him, "That's not the way the Doctor acts! He's got to be up to something! He wants to get your guard down. And why was he acting so out-of-character? No threatening, no gloating, no I WILL kill you this time or either he is having a major Shadow-moment or something is really wrong, or—"

Sonic's thoughts were cut of as his nose pushed a much more important thought into his head. The scent of food, specify fresh baked bread.

Forgetting all about Eggman's weirdness for a moment, Sonic pushed his self off the table, wincing at his feet hit the cold white tile.

Looking around, he was back in the room he had been in the last time he woke up, the only difference was this time he had a blanket, and there were several opened jars of medicine lying on a near by table.

Other then that, the room was empty. The walls were white, the floor was white. This room was the perfect poster room for boring.

Walking slowly, watching for anything that didn't look right, Sonic walked toward the door way. Almost immediately, he walked into something.

Looking surprised, -and rubbing his sore snout- Sonic looked around. There was nothing there. Nothing but air, how could he have walked into something?

Carefully, the blue hedgehog stuck his hand out and felt a smooth, warm, electric feeling, and knew what he feeling. An invisible force field.

Then, oddly, there was a sudden humming noise and the force field was gone.

Sonic looked around, half expecting to see a grinning someone with a remote. Seeing nothing, and with no force field to stop him, he walked into the next room.

There, right for the taking, was a large loaf of bread; it was crisp, very brown, and you could almost smell the butter baked into it.

Hold it, mentally red lights going off in the blue hedgehog's head. The bread just happened to be right there, and it just happened when he woke up. "How dumb do you think I am, Eggman? I try to grab the bread and I get zapped, right?" He called out loud, hoping for at least a response. When he got nothing, he sighed. He glanced at the bread again, hungrily, then suddenly saw a way he could get it.

Using every bit of self control he had to not just take the food, Sonic carefully picked up a book that was in the corner and used it knock the bread off the small table it was sitting on. Amazingly no alarms went off. No cage dropped out to try and catch him.

Diving for the bread before it hit the ground, Sonic took only the smallest second to smell it for anything that didn't smell right before tearing into it. The bread was delicious, baked perfectly.

After a few seconds of frantic eating, Sonic brushed the crumbs off his muzzle. Now that his hunger had been taken care of, he felt so much better. _Now if anything happens to me, like I get sick or something, I will know why_ He thought as he looked around the room he had just entered.

Expect for the table, the room was just like his. White, bare, and boring. Sonic sighed," I have to get out of here soon..."

After wandering back to his room, walking in circles, sleeping a bit, wandering off in the maze of Eggman's fortress, getting lost, seeing a million rooms before getting back to his, and then counting the dots on the ceiling, Sonic was REALLY starting to get bored.

If this was all the Doctor did all day, that guy was a lot stronger mentally then Sonic gave him credit for.

Just as he was about to start banging his head on the wall from boredom, a very weird noise started coming from the north wing. Strangely it sounded like something crushing something else, odd.

Curious, Sonic followed the noise and found himself staring at the one of the weirdest things he had ever seen.

Eggman,who looked a bit slimmer then the last time Sonic had seen him, was smashing his robots. Even when Sonic was standing close enough to reach out and touch him, Eggman ignored him and kept smashing.

After watching him for several minutes, and getting no response, Sonic finally spoke up. "What are you doing?"

Eggman wiped off his brow and straightened. "I found these weird things, and they can have a much better purpose then being robots."

Sonic just stared at him.

He tried to figure out if the doctor meant it, or if he was just trying to fool him. Nothing gave him an answer in Eggmans facial expression. Seeing this, Sonic said the first thing that came to mind. "You're getting weirder by the day Eggman.."

Eggman quickly looked at Sonic, staring at him if he was trying to figure out if he was speaking to him. When Sonic just looked at him without looking away, Eggman smiled softly. "My name is not Eggman, Sonic."

Sonic crinkled his eye ridge, either in confusion or disbelief. He decided he would play along with Eggman's weird game "Then what is your name?"

"Kintobor."


	6. Twist of plot

Sonic scowled as if this were a bad joke with an even worse punch line. " You can't be Kintobor."

Eggman smiled softly "And why not?"

The blue hedgehog glared at him, feeling his loathing for the doctor increase. "Because," he informed Eggman tightly, "Kintobor is gone. He left when I was 10."

A smirk danced across his face, Eggman looked completely amused, "And where did he go?"

Sonic half turned from him to look at the wall. When he did speak, his voice was just a whisper. "He didn't go anywhere, physically, he left mentally. The way he acted, the way he was. That's what's left... "

Eggman shook his head and got up from where he was sitting. He turned to look out a window. "That's not answering my question. Why can't I be Kintobor? Why is it so out of the question tha—"

That was as far as he got before Sonic's anger got the best of him. "BECAUSE! Kintobor was a person who cared about others! He didn't go around flying battle ships and trying to take over the world! You're not him, and no matter what you try to do, I won't be convinced otherwise." His words started in a snarl and ended in a hiss.

Eggman gave him a look that was neither angry nor annoyed. He didn't seem at all like he was about the engage in a yelling match with the hedgehog. He wore more of a sad look, almost like Sonic was a friend that had let him down, his gray-blue eyes filled with hurt at his words. "If that's how you feel"

Stunned, Sonic was momentarily taken back by his words. This wasn't how Eggman acted. Not sure what to say, or do, he turned and started looking for a way back to the room he had come from.

**On another day, (day 5) **

Knuckles sighed, "This isn't going to be easy," He thought as he stood outside Tails workshop. He needed to go in and tell the fox that Sonic was dead, but it just wasn't that easy. How do you go tell an 8-year-old that his older brother, the person that he adored, is dead?

Pushing his feelings aside, Knuckles knocked on the door.

A few second later, it was opened and two beautiful blue eyes lit up as they saw the echidna. "Knuckles!"

The said echidna took a deep breath, "Tails I have something I need to tell you, and its really important."

Tails cocked his head to the left, and his eyes grew large, "Did Rouge take the Master Emerald again?"

"No, its fin-Wait, what do you mean again? Did you hear something?" The scarlet echidna felt his heart rate speed up as he pondered if the note was a trap to get him away from the Master Emerald.

"No." the fox kit shook his head, making his fluffy ears flap back and forth. "No, that's just almost always the reason why you would leave it..."

Knuckles forced himself not bark back that wasn't the ONLY reason, reminding himself that what he would tell the fox in a minute would make him very upset, and he didn't need to add to that grief.

"No, kid." Knuckles knelt down so he was at eye level with the fox, "You're not going to like this"

Tails eyes widened "What?"

Knuckles took a deep breath, "I'm sorry kid, but Sonic is... dead."

Tails didn't react in the way the echidna thought he might, he just stared at Knuckles for several seconds. "That's not funny Knuckles, Sonic is coming back." He stated in a flat stubborn voice.

Biting back a scathing remark, Knuckles rolled his eyes. This kid gave new meaning to the word 'stubborn'. "Tails, I'd wish for the world he was, but he's not..."

"You're lying!" The 8 year old shrieked, "He's coming back, and that's mean of you to say things like that about Sonic! He doesn't do stuff like that to you!"

"I beg to differ." Knuckles thought. Out loud he said, "Tails, I'm not saying this 'cause I have nothing better to do then say things about people. I have proof." And then put the note with the picture into Tails hand.

Tails stared at it for several seconds with large tear-filled eyes before he looked back at the echidna. "NO! Its not true!" He screamed before he ran upstairs.

Knuckles watched the fox go. As smart as he was and mature for his years, he was still only 8. Shaking his head, and planning to check on him later, the echinda left, feeling slightly guilty.

_  
**(Back in eggman's place..) **

Sonic, after 2 hours of trying to find the room he had started in, and couldn't (since there was no way he was going to ask Eggman for help), had decided to stay in the first interesting room he found.

Eggman's words rang in his head over and over. "If thats how you feel." The way he said it, his eyes were full of hurt, as if Sonic's words had hit a nerve. Like his words had been painful.

"What if he is Kintobor?" Sonic said slowly, out loud. "He can't be... He was shocked by the Emeralds, and turned into the evil Doc... But what if?"

Sonic shook his head, making his quills flying around, "No, he can't..."

"Can't what?" Eggman commented as he walked past the surprised hedgehog and put a robot piece on a shelf.

"Nothing." Sonic mumbled, who hadn't realized he had been speaking out loud until Eggman came into the room.

"No, really; you don't talk out loud to yourself unless somethings bothering you."

Sonic curled his lip. "Why do you care?" He snarled, not bothering to keep the venom out of his voice.

Slowly lifting his eyes to meet the hedgehog's, Eggman shrugged, "Pretend I do."

Sonic stared at the wall for several seconds, "You can't be Kintobor.."

Shaking his head, Eggman sighed, "Are we going to go through this again? What if I prove to you that I'm Kintobor and I have changed?"

Sonic eyed him, "Okay..."

With out saying another word, Eggman pulled out several blueprints and showed them to Sonic, and then started ripping them up into tiny pieces.

The blue hedgehog watched him turn several plans -Most of which were plans labeled "Take over the world" or "kill Sonic"- into shreds.

After the 14th one was turned to confetti, Eggman held him hands out as a pacifist gesture.

Sonic stared at him, then looked down at the ripped pieces of paper, then back to Eggman's face. Trying to read his expression, he got nothing. The doctor's blue-gray eyes told him nothing. "I'm not convinced." The blue hedgehog said softly, sounding as if he wasn't sure what to think.

Eggman drummed his fingers again the wall, "Sonic, you sound like you hate this Eggman person... If you hate him, he must hate you back, and from the looks of these plans, you're not his favorite person."

Sonic blinked twice, thinking. He had never viewed the Doctor as someone he hated. He just didn't want the world at his mercy. Sonic by far didn't like Eggman (or trust him), but he didn't want him dead.

Eggman smiled and turned to look a window, "IF I was this guy, and I hated you, why would you even be alive? I would have killed you or totured you. Why would I have rescued you and given you medicine?"

"Maybe it is poss- Wait, what do you mean rescued?" Sonic had on auto pilot as his mind went over he had just been told and stopped on rescued.

"I found you sick, in the woods, all alone. You might of died if I hadn't done anything. Is that the kind of thing a person does to another that they hate?"

Sonic said nothing, glaring at the tile on the floor, and then looked up. "Are you really Kintobor?"

Eggman smiled gently, knowing what Sonic was saying. "I am."

Sonic stared into his eyes for almost a minute, making Eggman feel uneasy under his sharp gaze. "Okay.." Sounding for all the world like he wanted to believe him, but he wasn't sure.

Eggman took a deep breath and smiled. "Good, 'cause there's something I need you to do."

Sonic cocked an eyebrow. "What?"

"I need you to get the Chaos Emeralds."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Let me guess: its 'cause you have a battle ship that is out of power, and you need the emeralds to power it up to you can fly away and have a pleasant life. Yeah right. I'm not as gullible as Knucklehead."

"No, I have no interest in a Battleship."

Sonic looked surprised, he hadn't in a million year expected Eggman to say no. "Then what do you need them for?"

"The last time I saw you, I was working on a project to rid of all the evil, by sealing it in the chaos emeralds. I made a mistake in the estimates of what I thought I could seal in the emeralds. I know now, and I can seal the emeralds. Think about it."

Without another word, Eggman turned and left the room.

After several hours of thinking about it, Sonic left the room to find Eggman. His feet making a slow padding noise as he walked, perfectly in sync with his heart beat.

It was dark -due to the fact it was 11:00 at night- and Sonic finally found Eggman in a small room, sitting in front of a fire, reading a book. The flames flickered off his face, making him look normal. Not like a person who had tried to take over the world weeks earlier

"I have an answer for you."

Eggman looked up in surprise, and looked at him with an interesting look on his face. Setting the book to one side, he leaned forward slightly. "Well?"

"I'll do it."


	7. I only need

Knuckles inwardly groaned. On the top of his "hate-to-be-doing list" was being around sobbing people, next to being off Angel Island. Worst was when he had to do both at the same time. Most days he would have tried to get away when no one was looking

This was not a normal day.

It was a day that most people had hoped would never come, or at least wouldn't come for a very long time; the funeral of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Knuckles was standing near the front with Amy, Tails, and Cream, where an empty casket lay. Amy and Cream were both crying and accepting the kind words people offered as they walked by. Tails was just sitting there, staring into space, and not saying anything.

Looking around, Knuckles shook his head. Over a million creatures of all kinds had come, and more were still coming. There was everything from hedgehogs to reptiles, from large animals to smaller ones, all there. So many had come that they had to start turning people away, and put out signs; but that didn't stop devoted fans.

Looking at the huge number of flowers that had come, Knuckles rolled his eyes. EVERY kind of flower in the world had to be there, in nearly every color. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought Sonic had saved a million flower shows. One person had even gone to the trouble of making a collage out of their flowers to form life size replica of Sonic. Mostly blue flowers for his fur and quills, tan for the fur on his arms and stomach, and red, yellow, and white for his shoes. His eyes were green leaves.

Sometimes there is such a thing as being too loyal

Looking away from the crazed and crying fans, Knuckles looked down at Tails, who was sitting next to him. The fox was still staring straight ahead.

Knuckles sighed, wishing for the world someone else could deal with this. An overload of emotions and mournful crying had never been easy for him to deal with.

Gently nudging the small fox, Knuckles awkwardly put his hand on the 8-year-olds shoulder. "You doing okay kid?"

Tails slowly raised his head and looked at the echidna with tears dripping out of his large blue eyes; a look that made the echidna's heart break. Whimpering softly, the golden fox leaned his head against Knuckles' chest and continued to sob.

Knuckles looked down at the kid crying his eyes out, torn between putting his arms around him and not doing anything. Guilt won out, and the echidna rested his large hand on Tails' head. Gently stroking it, he wished more than anything that he could bring Sonic back.

Not because he missed him ,even thought he did, not that he would admit it, but because it tore at him how much pain poor Tails was in.

Slowly looking up at the sky, Knuckles hoped that this day would end quickly.

What he didn't expect was the next day would be so much worse.

**The same day: 2 hours earlier.**

"You're right on top of it." Eggman's voice crackled in Sonic's ear, with the help of the tiny device he had given the hedgehog to help him find the Chaos Emeralds.

"Kay." Sonic answered and cut the connection, preferring to find them his own way.

10 minutes later, he was holding the Purple Emerald. Turning it in every direction, Sonic admired it and felt his thoughts run wild.

The Emeralds, they were so beautiful, and so powerful. They had so many secrets. Sonic had been collecting them for years, and he still didn't know all of them. No one did. Most people didn't even want to touch them for fear of their power.

Holding it up with the green, white, and red Emeralds, it looked so much more beautiful. The lights that came from within the Emeralds all shimmered and danced together.

Magic by jewels.

Carefully tucking the other three away, Sonic held up the one he just found. Four down, three more to go, and then he would have all of them. He would be able to see what old 'Eggo would do when all seven emeralds were right in front of him

Sonic curled his lip and looked away, half knowing what Eggman would do. Shaking his head, Sonic held up an emerald and carefully tapped into the special power each emerald had; the one that made them attract each other like magnets.

Feeling a strong blast from the north, Sonic sped off in search of the 5th emerald.

**30 minutes later (Knuckles' time).**

Knuckles sighed. He had hoped this wouldn't happen.

Some guy that Knuckles didn't know (and he wasn't sure if Sonic knew him, either) stood up and talked for a long time about the Blue Blur. After going on and on and on about pointless things about him, he asked if others wanted to say something.

Watching several people get up and move toward the front to talk about how Sonic looked at _them_, or how he came in **their** store, or how he rescued their kids, Knuckles sighed.

Whatever he did to deserve this, he was sorry!

Sighing again, Knuckles looked over at Tails, half wondering if he could sneak out with out the fox noticing. However, seeing the pain-stricken look on Tails' face stopped him.

Groaning to himself, Knuckles leaned back in his chair, wondering how long the current person would talk for, when he felt a wave of panic.

He bolted upright and looked around. It was the same feeling he got when something really bad was about to happen

But he saw nothing.

On alert now, Knuckles carefully looked around as he felt another wave of panic, this one stronger then the last.

Suddenly he knew; someone was messing with the Master Emerald.

Feeling adrenaline rush through his body, Knuckles stood up and started to leave when two small hands grabbed his.

"Knuckles, where are you going?" Tails asked, not bothering to keep his voice down.

People turned to look at them. Noticing, Knuckles took Tails' wrist in his hand and led him out, away from everyone else.

Outside, away from the huge crowd, Knuckles put both of his hands on Tails shoulders and looked him in the eyes. He tried for a moment to forget about the increasing level of panic inside of him. "Tails I need to go, I'll be fine. Stay here"

Tails just stared back at him with large blue eyes, "Why?"

The scarlet echidna sighed, some small voice in his head saying every second he spent here was another second closer to danger. " Tails, I'm not leaving because I don't want to be here, I'm leaving because—I don't know why—but I think something is wrong with the Master Emerald. I. Have. To. Go. NOW."

"Will you come back?"

Knuckles gritted his teeth, "Yes, now go back to Amy." Spinning the fox around, the scarlet echidna watched Tails go back inside and waited until he sat down. Some part of Knuckles felt that, since Sonic was gone, he had to keep an eye on Tails now.

The second that Tails was seated, he took off, running as fast as he could. Now he could only hope that he wouldn't be too late.

**One hour before.**

Sonic slowly let out his breath, and hoping he looked braver then he felt, walked up to Eggman and dropped six Emeralds on the ground in front of him. "I got them." He stated proudly, semi enjoying the dumbfounded look on Eggman's face.

Eggman looked from the emerald to Sonic and back to the Emeralds. To say he was surprised was by far an understatement. Sonic had found them in only 3 hours. If he had tried to find them, it would have taken him days, maybe even weeks.

"Wow..." seemed to be the only thing he could say right now. He then looked closer and noticed something. "You only brought 6..."

Sonic shrugged and reached down to pick up the red Emerald. "I got all 7, I just didn't bring the last to make sure Chaos Control or something doesn't happen."

Eggman nodded, reaching down and picking up the Green Emerald. Feeling Sonic's death glare, he turned away to try and hide his beating heart. "I need you to get the last emerald, and one more thing."

Sonic eyed him for almost a minute before answering, "Which is?"

Eggman took one more deep breath and turned to look at Sonic. "I need you to get the Master Emerald." He said as calmly as he could.

A second later, he wondered why.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Sonic shrieked. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT KNUCKLES WOULD DO IF HE SAW ME WITHIN 30 FEET OF THE MASTER EMERALD WITHOUT HIS PERMISSION?

Eggman sat down and rolled his eyes. "Re-lax, Knuckles isn't even on Angel Island. And I need The Master Emerald. I can't do this without it. Besides if I had it, I would be able to seal the Emeralds."

Sonic stared at him. "What?"

Eggman shrugged, "If I had the Master Emerald, I would be able to seal all evil in the Chaos Emeralds. It would only take a few minutes. Knuckles can have it back when I am done."

When Sonic didn't answer, he kept talking. "Think about it; no more fighting. There would be no more evil"

The blue hedgehog was silent for almost 2 minutes, thinking it over. If Eggman was right, then all problems would be over. With all evil sealed into the larger emerald... But would it really be worth risking getting Knuckles VERY angry with him?

Looking up, Sonic looked Eggman straight in the eye. "I want to know two things."

Eggman smiled, "What?"

"Are you SURE that Knuckles isn't on Angel Island? Or anywhere near it?"

Eggman nodded, choosing not to say where Knuckles was. "Yes, I am."

Sonic continued to look Eggman in the eye, "And you're not going to do anything else with the Emeralds?"

Eggman nodded.

The azule hedgehog sighed; the hero part of him, the part that wanted to see a world without evil won. "Okay, I'll get it."

As he turned to go, Eggman said one more thing. "Oh, Sonic? If you see any of your friends, hide. They won't understand. They will try to stop you. Besides, think of how happy they will be when you tell them that the fighting is over."

**(45 minutes later, Angel Island) **

Sonic stood on the edge of the shrine, clearly shaking. Even though Eggman had assured him Knuckles wasn't here, he was still half expecting Knuckles to pop out of the bushes and attack him.

Slowly easing forward, he started up the stairs and walked right up to the giant jewel. Reaching out, he put one hand on it and for a moment forgot what he had to do

This jewel was special; he couldn't just take it! Besides that fact that Knuckles would be less then pleased, he was the hero! What kind of hero took?

Eggman's words echoed back to him. "No more fighting, no more evil...

Sighing, and offering up a silent apology to Knuckles, Sonic slowly picked up the Master Emerald, and almost dropped it when he realized how heavy it was.

Carefully balancing it, Sonic took off at a full speed, going as fast as he would have if Knuckles was on his tail.

**(5 minutes later) **

Knuckles came around the shrine as fast as he could. He almost fainted when he saw what had he been dreading.

The Master Emerald was gone.

After staring at the empty space where the Master Emerald should have been, Knuckles turned, fire blazing in his eyes. If that bat had even thought of harming the Master Emerald, she was going to wish she had never met Knuckles

Going down the steps, Knuckles suddenly noticed something in the dirt.

A footprint.

It was little bit smaller then his own footprint. Studying it, he realized it didn't look like Rouge's; it actually looked a lot like Sonic's

Knuckles frowned, Sonic was dead. Right?

Sonic slowly came to a stop, holding the 7th Chaos Emerald in one hand, and dragging the Master Emerald with the other.

He couldn't help but pant for several seconds. The Master Emerald was heavy! Knuckles made it look like it weighed next to nothing.

The hedgehog took a deep breath, and was picking the Master Emerald back up when he felt a small sting in his left leg, right above the knee.

He brushed it off as nothing, until seconds later when his leg went numb. His muscles seemed to turn to water, and he fell, out like a light before he even hit the ground.

Later, though, he was able to recall very familiar laughter all around him.


	8. Never changing

Darkness, pain, that kind that made you want to curl into a ball and desperately hope it would go away soon.

This is what greeted Sonic as he slowly opened his eyes. At first, he could see nothing but a think, heavy black. Trying to move, he felt excruciating pain shoot into his legs and arms. He looked down and realized why; he was chained to the wall. "Where am I? What am I doing here?" he mumbled sleepily. Trying to move again, he could feel rough stone and concrete under him. Something was wrong..

"He he he" A chuckling sound came from the shadows around him. The noise seemed to bounce off the walls and come at him from all angles. At first, it was almost impossible to tell where it was coming from. After twisting his tiny blue triangle-like ears, it pin-pointed from the left.

Sonic focused his eyes, trying to see the owner of the sound. "Who are you?" He demanded, his eyes searching the tiny room, sweeping first over to the left and then around in 180 degrees. "You can't hide from me forever!"

When no other sound would reach his ears, he sighed impatiently. Mind games. Only the ones of a sick, twisted person. "Fine! Stay out of sight! See if I care. I happen to like being here, all by my self. What I would really hate is if you were blasting music in my ears!" He snapped, hoping he would at least get a response.

The only response he was silence.

Sonic groaned and tried one more time. "At least you didn't take away my shoe, cuz I have things in there that would help me escape and get AWAY!" Sonic screamed at the wall. Although having his shoes taken away would have been bad because he couldn't run very fast without protection for his feet, there wasn't really anything inside of them.

He waited, and waited.. Nothing. Growled in anger, the hedgehog's mind started planning, how to get out of here, and what he'd do to the person who put him in here in the first place. But Before he could get very in his escape ideas, another low chuckle reached his ears, like the first.

Sonic whipped his head around. "Who are you? Come out here so I can look at you! Why are you hiding?"

The chuckle grew louder, "But I have nothing to hide" Eggman said as he came out from the shadows. He moved so he stood right in front of Sonic, still chuckling.

As soon as Sonic looked at him, he smiled; not an evil smile but a smile two friends would share. Like this was just another day, hanging out with his pal. "You know, you say that block-headed echidna friend of yours is thickheaded and gets tricked easily, but you!" Eggman stopped and doubled over in laughter.

Sonic glared at him, "What are you talking about?"

Eggman stood up; his shoulders still shaking, and a huge smile on his face. "And you just gave me 8 emeralds! The 7 Chaos emeralds and the Master Emerald." He added when he saw the puzzled look on Sonics face.

The blue hedgehog looked at a loss for words, the expression on his face wouldn't of been more shocked if Eggman had said they were long lost brothers. After almost 8 seconds, words finally spilled from his mouth. "But You said y-you changed!"

Eggman looked fiendishly pleased. "I lied." As soon as these words left his mouth, he leened against the wall, waiting for the expected response.

The surprise on Sonic's face turned to anger and fast. "You little lying—when I get my hands on you!" He growled.

Eggman laughed, a loud booming sound that bounced off the walls, "What are you going to do? If I remember correctly, your'e chained to a wall, and I have the emeralds! But if you behave, I MIGHT let you live, but you must be good."

"You sick, sadistic, psycho, loser of a—" Sonic snarled.

A sweet smile flirted across Eggman's face as Sonic had just called him his best friend, "Didn't anyone ever teach you any manners? Oh wait, I forgot, even your parents didn't want you! Silly me! And always remember you idiot, I could have killed you at any time, but I haven't, yet"

Sonic growled, showing off his sharp yellow-white teeth. The look on his face just daring Eggman to keep going.

Eggman quickly moved his right hand out of biting range. By all means, he was NOT afraid of Sonic, but he had learned the hard and painful way Sonic was a deadly fighter when provoked.

"Oh well", Turned away, the mad scientist casually pressed a button on the wall. "I guess I will just have to teach you a few manners. After all, you've been in my house for quite a while and I haven't been able to show you my hospitality."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Over my dead body!" He coated his words in poison and spat them into the darkness of the tiny cell.

"Funny you should mention that, because that's just what I had in mind."

Sonic's eye ridges raised in confusion. "I beg your pardon?" He said slowly, as if speaking to a moron.

"Yes. You see, your friends aren't coming to save you. You are all alone."

The blue hedgehog rolled his eyes, the man in front of him could be so dense sometimes. "Don't you know anything, you moron? Tails will come! I know that."

"My dear Sonic! That is where you are wrong. Like always." He added under his breath and then started to leave. "Oh well, you will be finding this out for yourself soon. Maybe in a few months, when you are still here, and no one has come to save you—not even start to wonder where you are—you'll find everything I said was right."

Green eyes narrowed in suspicion, Eggman might be a mad scientist, but his words had gained the blue hedgehog's attention. "And you know this how? How do you know that they arn't going to wonder where I am? That they won't wonder where I went and they won't trace it to you and go look for me and find me here? Tell me how you know this, you dumb, dirty rotten, sick" His fury blinded him and cut off his words. He shook the chains as hard as he could, fire burning in his eyes.

Eggman waited for Sonic to calm down before he reached out and took Sonic's chin in his hands (while keeping them out of biting range). When they were eye to eye, he spoke softly," I know, because they think you're dead."

The anger left Sonic's eyes in a flash. "Dead?" He echoed.

Eggman's evil smile turned up a notch. "Yes, dead. Are you as deaf as you are ugly?"

His mock fell on deaf ears, Sonic's face was blank, just what Eggman wanted to see. There was confusion in his eyes, but what really wanted to make Eggman break into song was the touch of fear.

Sonic mind raced, "Dead? Why do they think I am dead? What happened? Am I dead? Are they o.k"?

If reading his mind, Eggman leaned against the wall, "No, you're not dead, yet. And your little friends are okay, for now. You see, they think you are dead because while you were passed out for over a week, I had a brilliant idea." He paused, drinking in confusion on Sonic's face.

"And?" Sonic demanded

Peering at him over the top of his glasses, Eggman gave him a look that said he was very amused. "My, my, my, arn't we impatient? If you must know, while you were out, I dumped this tomato-like paste over you."

Sonic just stared at him. "What? Why?"

Eggman rolled his eyes. "Because, you idiot, It looked like blood. I took a picture of you, coated in "blood" and sent it to your idiot friend, that echidna, along with a note saying you were dead."

Sonic stared at for several second, not saying anything. Then the fire returned to his eyes. "They would never believe that."

The scientist grinned again, small at first, and then suddenly broke into laughter.

Narrowing his eyes, Sonic growled, getting tired of being made fun of at every 30 seconds. "Stop mocking me!" He shrieked, and shaking his chains, tried to break away from the wall.

Ignoring him, Eggman just smirked, leaned against a wall, and waited for Sonic to exhaust himself before he spoke. "Finished?"

Sonic just glared back him, still panting.

Turned away, Eggman made a show of pushing a few buttons before he spoke again. "I can, and will mock you. Whenever. I. Please. Got it Rodent? You're not in charge here, I am, and I will do whatever I please. And if you must know, your friends did believe me."

"What? How do you know?" The words were barely audible

Eggman looked like he had just won the lottery, he was so happy. This was the day that he had dreamed about for so long and it had finally came. "Your funeral was yesterday."

"What?"

"Yes, while you were getting me the Chaos emeralds, and the Master Emerald, it was going on. _That's_ how I know they will not come looking for you. Oh, I hope you like it here, you're going to be here for a very long time."

He then turned and left Sonic alone in the dark, with only his thoughts to keep him company.


	9. Ending

Sonic stared dully ahead, his prison small, black, and did nothing to help his already bad mood. Why... Why did he believe Eggman? Hadn't he watched Knuckles be tricked several times, all with the same ending? And hasn't there been a small voice in his head? One that kept screaming at him to get out of there and run. Run as fast as he could with the Emeralds.

And never come back.

Sighing, he turned away, trying to get into a position that wasn't so painful. The chains were really tight!

Eggman's voice came back to him. "_You know, you say that block-headed echidna friend of you'rs is thickheaded and gets tricked easily, but you!" _

Closing his eyes to block out the voice, Eggman was right. He had been tricked. Just like Knuckles. He had failed. And to say he called himself a hero...

A bright light startled him as Eggman waltzled in to the room, looking happier then he had in years. "You look bored.. Maybe I can help.."

"Unless it involves letting me go, I'm not interested." Sonic grated, not in the mood to be mocked.

"My, My." Eggman steppled his fingers, "You're in bad mood. What's the matter?"

Wanting nothing more then to spindash the smug look on Eggman's face off, but knowing he couldn't,he turned away from Eggman. Letting a stubborn look settle on his face, the blue hedgehog planned to just ignore Eggman and his taunts. A sudden jerk on his chains turned him back, Sonic yelped as he found him self facing Eggman again.

"Answer me when I talk to you!" Eggman growled, changing from happy to angry and back to happy. "Well, I can't have that in my house, can I? I think it is tim-"

Eggman never got to say what time it was to do whatever he wanted, due to the fact that a large fist came plowing through the wall, revealing a red echidna, an orange fox, and pink hedgehog. All three looked angry and ready for a little action.

"I think," Knuckles commented as he stepped throught the hole he just made, "That it's time you gave Sonic back to us and we will just be on our way. Do it now, and we won't hurt you."

Eggman stepped in front of Sonic, blocking their way. "Now Knucklehead, you can't just come smashing in here, and demand that I give you my prisoner. I worked very hard to get to this point, I'm not just gonna 'hand him over'."

Flexing his powerful hands, Knuckles grinned at the docter. "And why not?"

Eggman eyed him, knowing very well how strong he was. "Well, that's just not fair. You have to get by me and then you can have him."

"HAVE HIM? What do I look like, some kind of prize?" Sonic echoed from his spot on the ground.

"Quiet rodent." Eggman and Knuckles said at the same time, all without taking their eyes off each other. For several long seconds, human and echidna were locked in a stare-down.

With a long sigh, Sonic turned away, wondering if they had come to rescue him, or just yell about the Chaos Emeralds.

Knuckles grinned, breaking the stare as he reached forward, grabbed Eggman's ankle, and flipped on to his back. Then, making a point of walking slowly by Eggman, he leaned down to grin at him. "You were saying?" Seeing Tails and Amy just standing there, watching with very large eyes, Knuckles jerked his head in the direction of Sonic and they both scrambled over to help Sonic.

A few minutes later, the second Tails finished picking the lock, Sonic stood up, glad to be free of the chains. Stretching his sore muscles felt good after long hours in the same position.

A second later, he wondered why he even bothered to stand up, seeing he had been knocked back to the floor by an overly enthusiastic fox and hedgehog. Both determinded to get their arms around their hero and squeeze as hard as they could.

Watching this, Knuckles rolled his eyes, waited 20 seconds, and then pulled Tails off with one hand, Amy off with the other, and preceded to _glare_ down at Sonic. "Get up." Knuckles ordered in a voice that demanded obedience.

Sheepishly, Sonic pushed him self to his feet and followed Knuckles out the hole made in the wall.

"Hey! Eggman protested from where he had been left on the floor, 'You can't just.." He stopped when two hammer came flying in at top speed, aimed at his head.

Outside, Sonic had a sinking feeling that a certain red echidna wasn't very happy with him. This was proved right when Knuckles turned, grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground to they were eye-to-eye. "_**DONT...EVER...TOUCH... MASTER...EMERALD...AGAIN."**_

Dropping him, Knuckles stalked off, leaving Sonic, Amy, and Tails. Watching him go, Sonic didn't say anything untill he was sure Knuckles really was gone. "Wow.." His voice sounded small and weak, even to his ears.

Turning to Amy and Tails. "Guys, I'm really sorry.." He stated lamely, very ashamed that he had fallen for Eggman's tricks. "But Eggman's got the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald... and we-Why are you grinning?" He broke off, watching Any and Tails both share a smile.

Amy grinned at her hero, "Eggman doesn't have all the emeralds."

"What?" Sonic stared back dumbly.

Tails whipped out two Emeralds, and Amy pulled out another. "We found these before we found you." Tails stated proudly.

"And Knuckles got back the Master Emereld." Amy added.

Sonic stared for several seconds, and then broke into a grin. "I don't believe it.."

Amy shook her head, grinning. "Well, now that we got you out, we have a lot to catch up on. And if I remember right, we had a date planned for a few days ago.."

Sonic paled, grabbed Tails and took off. "I don't think so!" He called over his shoulder as he picked up speed, heading toward Station Square.

Amy glared, and took off after him, trying to keep up, but was failing. "Sonic!"


End file.
